A Nurse Practitioner's View

Wow - I randomly checked my blog and see that it's been THREE months since I last blogged! It's not from a lack of activity going on in the nurse practitioner world but more from having far too commitments than I have time for and unfortunately, my blogging has lagged behind a bit -- ok, a lot. While clinically, I am seeing tons of patients with nasty upper respiratory infections and good ole influenza (and the New York State mandatory mask requirement for health care workers if not vaccinated) is rearing it's ugly head. Practically every day, we see more and more coverage of nurse practitioners in the mainstream media. These NPs are responding to health questions, giving advice on things from influenza vaccines to cervical cancer screening and opening up their own practices. That's not to say that the toxic and predictable vitriol against nurse practitioners has ceased though. If anything, it has been turned up even more. Yet, it's obvious that it is having less ...

Hello, I just wanted to provide a brief update as to what I've been up to for the last few weeks. After completing my DNP this past May , I was actually feeling a bit melancholy thinking that my days of a "student" were officially over. Well, not so much! Since my passion is technology, I happened to be researching Health Information Technology (HIT) and found these University-based training programs set-up by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) under the HITECH Act . These programs train either health professionals on the IT side or IT professionals on the health side. Even better, there is grant that helps to pay for the majority of tuition fees! I've always had a passion for technology yet, have been all self-taught with no formal training. The program that I applied to and was accepted offers a clinician leader track. It's been about 3 weeks and the hybrid program is intense! (I thought I was done writing papers, etc!) Thus far, it really is a wo...